I had the opportunity to take advantage of a well-used and unoriginal bit of rank banter with another member of the canal restoration society to which we belong. This chap is a retired Major who served in the Lincolnshire Field Ploughers and Ferret Breeders or some such regiment - calling him a military cabbage is a serious under-statement.
Anyways, he was recalling his days in khaki when he was OC 'This' and OC 'That' and he asked me about my time in the light blue. "What rank were you ?" he asked. "Flight Sergeant" I replied. "Oh, in the Army, you would have been a staff sergeant" he said.
Oh Joy!! Hallelujah!! Praise the Lord!! It was too good an opportunity to miss, so I responded with the old chestnut "Jim, if I had been in the Army, I would have been a ***** brigadier".